Bittersweet
by CyberSerpent
Summary: CySer's back minna-san~!!! And with a good ole Sano+Megumi ficcy >D ano...anyone remember me at all?


Disclaimer- go fart on a monkee tree.

A/n- O_O; uhm. :glances around at glares around her: :says tentatively: konnichiwa minna-san. :braces herself for bombings of complaints of incomplete fics: :when hears none, becomes relieved and starts talking: after being on hiatus for a bout a year, I, CySer, have decided to come out into the opening again. I, uhm, apologize for the lack of continuation of mai previous fics, but here's the main reason… 

Pillow Grand Pree has scored the most reviews in mai history but I feel I'm pushing it. A real ficcy gets 40 or 50+ reviews from just three chapters, and I hadda push ten chapters or more to get that many. (so it's lyke five reviews per chapter, and it's mostly from the same ppl) So…it depends on mai feedback, otherwise pgp is from now on officially dead. I'm sorry to everyone that liked it… J. Liha, Sanosuke Sagara, and everyone else. And since the last chapter only scored two reviews, I got really discouraged and just…stopped. So gomen nasai…if you really want me to continue, I'll try…

Anyhoo, hugz to CreatiStar fer being a great friend and writing so many letters to meh even though she moved to Shanghai ;_;…

Kk, nuff of mai blabber, I'm endin' mai hiatus wif a good old-fashioned S+M (heh heh, I'm back Karina Kineshi-sempai!). :later realizes the lack of bombings was because no one was listening in the first place. Ara…:

[timeframe: this takes place in the last episode of RK dvd Holy War, where Sayo died. Sorry Sayo fans, I'm kinda using her to get Sano and Megumi-chan together… ducks from overflying pots and pans whimpers gomen… (btw, this is after Sayo got shot and the doctor dude rode off, leaving Sano and Sayo alone together)(I'm sorry if the dialogue is wrong, mai memory ain't dat great _, and I gave it a twist to make it more interesting)]

Bittersweet 

_"My name…my real name…it's Sayo…_"

"What? Don't give up now! You can ma—" Sanosuke protested, gripping the frail woman's hand tightly.

Sayo smiled weakly, "Sanosuke… if only I had met you sooner, if only…" she faltered and grew paler.

Sanosuke forced back tears, "Gods, Sayo, don't say that!"

_Skkkritch…skritch…_ The sound of shoes on the dirt road made Sanosuke whip his head around. "Who's there?!"

To his surprise, it was Megumi.

"Kitsune? What in the—" he started, then caught himself and remembered Sayo. "Help her…onegai…" he requested feebly.

Megumi gasped when she saw the blood seeping down Sayo's side. "Who is…she?" but all the same, her doctorly instincts took over and she began dressing the wound with what little equipment she had in her little bag.

"Me—Sayo." Sanosuke cradled the wounded woman tenderly in his arms. 

Megumi lifted her eyebrow at Sanosuke's sudden kindness and affection towards this person she barely knew. "And your relationship with her is what?"

Sanosuke glared at her, disgusted, "I'd have expected a professional doctor like you to be more _professional_ and focus on the patient rather than banter with me."

Megumi flinched, stung by the whip-sharp remark, but continued her task efficiently. 

Sayo finally spoke, her whispery voice soft and barely audible, "Sa-Sanosuke…"

Sanosuke quickly leaned into Sayo, his ear nearly touching her lips as he strained to hear her words. 

"I…take this…to my brother…" Sayo held up a piece of paper.

Sanosuke's eyes burned with fury and passion, "Is this your will?! Dame! You're not going to die here, you hear me? You're going to live a happy life and die an old lady, warm in her bed. Not here, not now. Do you understand?" [a/n- O_O; anyone who watched Titanic might have noticed the snitch of dialogue I stole XD]

Megumi was startled by this ardent speech. In her head she ruefully thought, _He'd never say that to me…_

Sayo smiled weakly, "Sanosuke, I…" she dropped her will and cupped his face in her hands. "I wish I'd known you sooner…" and with that she pulled his face gently down and kissed him. 

Megumi dropped her roll of bandages.

The kiss ended as soon as it started. With a soft wet sound their lips parted and Sayo's limp and lifeless body crumpled into Sanosuke's arms.

"Sayo? Hey, Sayo?" Sanosuke frantically shook the woman's shoulders, "Sayo?!"

Megumi gasped and backed away, overwhelmed by what she just saw and the death of such a young lady.

"Sayooooo!!!!!" Sanosuke wailed, and buried his sobbing face into the body's neck.

~*~

"Sano? Are you okay de gozaru?" Kenshin asked worriedly, glancing across the Akabeko's table at him.

Sanosuke was staring listlessly off into space, not wolfing down the food like he usually did.

Even Kaoru noticed something was wrong. "Sanosuke?" she gently nudged him with her chopstick.

Yahiko stopped eating, "Oi, Sano, if you don't want your beef—"

"You have it." Sanosuke pushed his bowl to the boy. 

Yahiko stared wide-eyed at Sanosuke, "You aren't kidding?"

"Why would I be." It wasn't a question, and therefore demanded no answer as Yahiko gobbled down the forsaken food.

"Sano? Megumi-san? Why are you two so quiet?" Kaoru questioned. 

Megumi sat quietly at her seat, stirring the miso soup with her chopsticks, "I'm not hungry either."

"Can I haff yoursh too den?" Yahiko said thru a mouth full of beef.

"Yahiko!" Kaoru admonished sharply.

"It's okay, he can have it." Megumi handed the bowl to Yahiko, who accepted it eagerly.

Kenshin glanced nervously from Sanosuke to Sayo. In an attempt to strike up conversation, he said, "How does Lady Sayo—"

"Can I be excused." Sanosuke stood up abruptly and left, almost bumping into a startled Tsubame.

"Oro?" Kenshin blinked.

Megumi started flattening a crease in her kimono. "Sorry, Ken-san. Sano's just a little… upset, is all."

Kaoru cocked her head, "Why?"

Megumi sighed, "Personal reasons, you raccoon."

Kaoru took offense, "No one asked you, fox lady."

Megumi started to retort, but luckily Kenshin broke up the fight by saying, "Has something happened to Lady Sayo?"

Megumi sucked in her breath; they had buried Sayo in the woods earlier that day, erecting a tombstone and praising her brave deeds in her life. "He'll tell you when he's ready." Was all Megumi said.

~*~

"Tori-atama?" Megumi knocked tentatively on Sanosuke's door. 

There was a grunt and the shoji slid open. Sanosuke stood there, hair rumpled and half-naked to boot.

Megumi meeped. "Cover up, fer chrissake."

"Aa aa?" Sanosuke looked down groggily. "Oh. Gomen." But he made no move to either invite Megumi in or to cover up his bare chest.

"Well?" Megumi tomped her feet on the floor. "Arentcha gonna invite me in or something?"

"Oh. Yeah. Whatever." Sanosuke scratched the back of his head and stepped aside to make room for her.

Megumi walked in apprehensively, "Uhm… daijobu desu ka?"

Sanosuke shrugged and closed the shoji. "I'm *okay*, I guess. Not that great though." He managed a crack of a grin, "Damn Yahiko."

Megumi smiled back at him.

"But…" Sanosuke sat heavily down at a crudely made chair. "Sayo and I… we coulda been great together, ya know."

Megumi cringed inside, but didn't show it, "Yeah…"

"She was so…great. Even though she was suffering from an illness, she still tried to save her country. Even though we only knew each other for barely a few months, I believed that we coulda…ya knoe…" Sanosuke muttered.

Megumi bit her lower lip. Then said softly, reluctantly, "Hai…"

Sanosuke went on, "I just felt…at that time…she was the one. Dude, she was the *one*. It was just this stupid gut feeling of mine which usually isn't right anyway." With that he raised his eyebrow meaningfully at Megumi.

"Huh?" Megumi cocked her head to side. "Waddya looking at me for?"

"N'mind." Sanosuke sighed and continued. "Sayo…gods, what am I gonna say to her brother?"

"He died too." Megumi replied softly.

"Oh yeah."

"…Sano?"

"Aa aa?"

"Did you… love Sayo? Truly and dearly?"

"Uhm…" For a brief second the gangster looked flustered, "Yuh. I guess."

Megumi bit back tears, "Oh."

"Why?"

"Just wondering."

"Uh-huh." Megumi could tell Sanosuke didn't believe her.

"It's true."

"Haaaa…" Sanosuke heaved a sigh and turned to flop on his futon. "I'm gonna take a nap. Close the door on yer way out."

Megumi harrumphed, "So polite."

"Domo…" Sanosuke yawned, and with that he was asleep.

"Fast…" Megumi managed the faintest of smiles. She leaned over the sleeping Sanosuke and peeked at his peaceful face. Gently tracing over the outline of his face, Megumi thought, _He doesn't deserve this. No one does._ Without even thinking very clearly, Megumi leaned closer and softly, tentatively, kissed Sanosuke's slightly open lips.

"!!" Megumi shot back, hands pressed over her mouth. _What had she done???_

"Sano?" Kenshin's voice suddenly came from the shoji, "We have brought some food, that we have."

Megumi muffled a shriek and quickly made up a maneveur: she will tell Ken-san that she came to visit earlier too, and found Sanosuke sound asleep, and then she hung around to tidy up his place. Yes, that's it. With that confident thought in mind, she pulled open the shoji, pretending to be surprised, "Why, Ken-san!"

"Megumi-dono?" Kenshin blinked.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you. Tori-atama's sleeping his butt off." Megumi tried to maintain a casual and uncaring aura and brushed by Kenshin.

Kenshin stared after Megumi, "Daijobu desu ka, Megumi-dono?"

Megumi turned back, eyes disbelieving, "What are you talking about, Ken-san?"

"Nothing…" Kenshin squinted at her, "But… you seem so sad, de gozaru."

Megumi gasped softly. "H-honto?"

"Hai de gozaru…" Kenshin nodded slowly.

Megumi clapped her hand over her mouth and ran all the way back to the clinic.

A/n- O_O; Not a very good end-hiatus ficcy nyu… Feel free to hunt me down and shoot meh then XD; If enuff ppl want a sequel *cough*reviews*cough* I guess I can squeeze it out somehow o_O; 

But the thing is, I have now a blog to maintain and also a doujinshi site so I'll prolly be busy most of the time… also the Tokyopop mangaka contest is coming up too O_O; so I'll be REAL busy. Don't expect any masterpieces outta meh 'til lyke 2003 XD;

Later dayz!

CySer .~

PS. Ish been so long since I wrote dat I nearly forgot how o_O; 

PPS. If no one reviews…gods, I'll be so sad ;-; don't make me cwy, please. Remember, I have multicolored rabid man-eating kittens on mai side ready to eat you on my command D 


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